JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (April 19, 2012) – The ETSU men’s and women’s track and field teams come back from a week off of competition to compete in the Atlantic Sun Outdoor Championships on Friday and Saturday at North Florida’s Hodges Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla.

The meet begins Friday at 9 a.m., with the 100m hurdles section of the women’s heptathlon. Other legs of the heptathlon to immediately follow will be the high jump, shot put and 200m. The men’s events get underway at 9:30 a.m., with the first five sections of the decathlon which include the 100m, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400m.

The men’ and women’s 4x400m relays conclude the Championships on Saturday at 8:45 p.m., followed by the awards presentation at 9 p.m.

Last year, the men’s side took home five gold medals but fell short against back-to-back champion Kennesaw State which tallied 237 points to ETSU’s second place effort of 171. The Owls and Bucs also finished No. 1 and No. 2 at this year’s Indoor Championships, with the title coming down to the final event as Kennesaw State edged ETSU 177-172.

The women’s team earned their third-consecutive fourth place finish at last year’s Outdoor Championships, totaling 85 points while six-time defending champion Jacksonville ran away with 243.

Heading into this weekend’s Championships, ETSU leads the A-Sun in six men’s events and three women’s events.

On the men’s side, Ifrish Alberg (Paramaribo, Suriname) sits atop the conference in the 100m with his time of 10.55 which he set two weeks ago at the Tennessee Challenge. Junior Tim O’Dell (Palm Coast, Fla.) posted his A-Sun leading 400m mark the week before at the Yellow Jacket Invitational with a time of 47.65

In the jumps, Jason Johnson (Philadelphia, Pa.) heads the triple jump with his 14.98m posting at the Georgia Relays. Marek Navratil (Olomouc, Czech Republic) holds the largest height in the high jump with a 2.05m clearing at the Tennessee Challenge.

Senior Cornell Sneed (Miami, Fla.) crushed his personal best of 15.05m in the shot put with his conference-leading mark of 16.15m at the Yellow Jacket Invitational.

Meanwhile, freshman K’Vonte Scott (Virginia Beach, Va.) leads the A-Sun with his 6,618-point decathlon performance in ETSU’s first outdoor meet of the season at the 49er Classic.

In the women’s events, Taylor Story (Germantown, Tenn.) leads the A-Sun multis with a 4,202 point total in the heptathlon.

Two other local products hold conference leads for the Bucs, with Jasmine Foster (Johnson City, Tenn.) leading the field in the shot put at 13.48m, and Lexie Burley (Johnson City, Tenn.) setting the pace in the triple jump at 12.29m.

Event-by-event results, entry lists, start lists, and other meet information throughout the 2012 Outdoor Championships will be provided by CFPITiming.com.

For more information on ETSU track and field, please visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the track and field links.